ROCHESTER — Julie Hill has something special to be thankful for this season.

“I actually got life,” she said in a recent interview.

Hill, 52, had been on dialysis since 2010. For more than two years, she was awaiting a kidney transplant that would save her life, and on Oct. 7 she received that transplant thanks to a family she now calls “angels.”

Hill's kidney donor was a 52-year-old man who had died whose family agreed to have his kidneys donated. Shortly after his death, one kidney went to Hill, and the other went to save someone else's life.

This Thanksgiving, Hill is full of gratitude to the grieving family members who helped save her life.

“They were grieving and they had to make that decision right away,” said Hill. “The family — they're angels. I was lucky that the kidney came when it did.”

Throughout her time on dialysis, Hill suffered low energy and vomiting, and at times she felt she couldn't keep going.

She said if it wasn't for the kidney transplant, her prognosis was only five years of life remaining.

Hill was notified she had to go on dialysis in June 2010, after a decade of seeing doctors for glomerulosclerosis. While her blood tests have been coming in OK for years, in 2010 the levels of creatinine — the chemical waste molecule generated from muscle metabolism — went up to significantly in her blood.

For Hill, going through peritoneal dialysis while striving to keep working as a nurse assistant at Langdon Place in Dover was a real challenge.

“It was very, very time consuming,” she said. “You have to be very careful with the equipment not to get infection.”

At times, while being hooked up to the dialysis machine for eight or nine hours at a time, the sound of the alarm on the machine would wake her up at night, either because she moved the wrong way in her sleep or because the machine was malfunctioning.

Hill's new kidney was available a year earlier than expected. For her blood type, it typically takes 38 months to find a new kidney — but Hill's good news came 26 months after being put on the waiting list.

“I was lucky,” said Hill, who still remembers feeling the excitement and shaking when Maine Transplant Center called her and told her a new kidney was available.

Today, Hill looks forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with her family — her husband Donald, her three grown daughters, and her three granddaughters. Hill also has another grandchild on the way, she said.

“I'm really grateful for getting a new kidney and I'm grateful for all the support my husband and my girls have given me,” said Hill.

She said that with her new kidney, and blood tests that are showing optimistic results, she looks forward to getting back to work and regaining her energy each day.

“I love my job, I love helping people,” said Hill.

Now that she is off dialysis, Hill also can't wait to someday travel without having to bring her dialysis machine with her.

By Christmas, Hill said she plans to write a letter to the family members of the donor, thanking them for their life-saving gift.

“It really changes somebody's life,” said Hill. “I think I'm going to be more apt to help other people out, because someone did something really good for me.”